Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1887-09-20
THE TWO BEAR FLAGS.
HOW A PLUCKY WOMAN lMPGO-
WSED A FAMOUS BANNER.

A Tale of Early California Dsys-Cap-
ture of Sonoma in IS46-The Bear
Flag Soon Replaced by the Stars and
Stripes.
In the magnificent hall of the flourishing
social order and historical society known as
the Pioneer of California, on Fourth street,
near Mission, in San Francisco, are displayed
two peculiar flags, the only ones of the kind
ever made, which were the standards OF the
Americans in their revolt against Mexico,
and from which they derived their name OF
the bear flag insurgents or bear flag party
These flags consist OF Il large, almost square
piece Of muslin, five or six feet III length,
once white, but now completely yellowed by
time. to the bottom of which is roughly sewn
a narrow strip Of red flannel. Upon the
muslin ground Of each in the upper right
hand corner is painted Il star, while the cen
ter is oruamenfei with the representation of
a bear, beneath which are the words, Cali
foirlia Republic The only important differ
ence between the two flags Is that the bear
upon one is rampant, while that upon the
other is on all fours.
Mr.. John Fowler swears positively that the
flag bearing the picture OF "A rampant bear is
the one first made aud raised by the bear flag
insurgents
at was in February, 1876, slid Mr. Fowler
in talking OF the matter, that Gen. Fremont,
at the head of an exploring expedition sent
out by the United States government, having
entered California, then II possession of Mex
leo, without the permission of the Mexican
government, was rnramped at Fort Gabilan,
btu Il ,Valsa
tive Californian about horsr which the lat
ter had found III the possession OF one of Ere
mont's men, and WHEN he claimed as having
been stolen. Fremont refused to surrender
the horse, and defed the Mexican authorities,
who had no troops III the neighbOrhood with
which they could safely attack the American
rifiemen
Il was about q years Of age, and was in
the employ of Mr. John Suffer, an American,
who had acquired considerable property in
California, AL who owned, some miles from
Sonoma, large ranch, where he had erected
a sort of walled stOckade as a protection
against the Indians. 1t was popularity known
as Suffers fort On June ), 1876, there M
rived at our fort a Mexican lieutenant named
Arce, who WAS on his way to Sonoma In
the course of conversation he incautiously let
fall that his errand was to procure horses to
be used in expelling the American residents
This statement seemed to demand instant
action Mr. Suffer Immediately sent out
messengers TO all the Americans in our
vicinity, and called on them to assemble at
his fort They did So on June Z, and at that
meeting a long score of grievances in
6icted by the Mexican government upon
Americans living in California was
discussed AT length, in addition to
what was now regarded as the expressed de
termination of TINT power to eNpel the Amer
leans After considerable debate, We finally
voted unanimously TO anticipate Mexico bv
declaring war against her, making all her al
caldes and other officials our prisoners and
seizlng her military posts throughout Cali
fornia-all OF them very poorly garrisoned-
before she would have time to take any steps
against us. We diSpatche, messenger to Gen.
Fremont, who then moved his camp about
thirty miles to the northward Of us, asking
him to join his forces with ours, become our
commander i'll chief and unite with Us in de-
claring war against Mexico He refused 10
comply with our request but expressed sym
pathy with our purposes, and promised to re
main in our vicinity III the hope that be
might afford lis some indirect assistance
disappointed at not securing the active
cooperation of Fremont, We proceeded to
form military organization, and with great
heartiness and unaniInity We choose Ezekiel
Merritt as our commander Merritt was a
Vermont Yankee shrewd. bold, fearless
rough spoken man of the Ethan Allen-Israel
Putnam type, Though strong as an OK and
hror- la., h..
required, as tender and gentle as a woman,
was one of the best of nurses for sick man
We could not have chosen better cheftain
to lead us against the Mexicans, and under
his dauntless leadership ve rode lall well
mounted, directly TO lnoma, the only town
and military post of Mexico north of the
Golden Gate 1t was about noon on Sunday.
June ii, that We entered SonOma The day
was intensely hot and the inhabitants were
sitting outside their houses or at their win
dows. They were taken completely 10y sur
prise, not having had the slightest inkling of
our coming, AMI not soul imagined what our
errand was until we rode up to the Mexican
fort, and Merritt, our bold leader, demanded
its immediate surrender, not as Col Ethan
Allen once made similar demand, "In the
name of the continental congress and the
great Jehovah, but 'In the name OF the in
dependent republic of California The gar
rison, as much surprised a. the people of the
town had been, was wholly unprepared for
any resistance, and, though we numbered
only thirtytwO men, it was surrendered at
once
Though we ali desired to use the American
flag, we felt that we had no right to 40 so, rs
the United State wa not at war with Mex
leo, and that We nslst have a standard of our
own after the manner OF Texas when she
declared her independents
1--WE will have flag in spite of every
thing said Mrs John Sears. the wife Of one
of our number who had piurkily accom-.
panied her husband, and, retiring for a short
time, she presently returned with a large
strip OF muslin and a smaller one of red fan
mel, both of which She had torn from her
garments. TO sew the flannel to the muslin
was the work of few minutes, and our flag
was complete save for some design vet to be
added. William Todd, one of our number.
who thought he possessed some talent for
painting, volunteered 10 act as our artist.
Some p int was ehtlinrd from a neighb0ring
wheelwright's shop, and Todd began by
painting a lone star, i'll imitation of the Texan
flag. Mr.. H. l. Ford who had been one of
the most active participants IN our move
ment, suggested that it would be well to have
some design more distinctiv"lv characteristic
of California and Proposed a grizzly bear
But now another difficulty arose. William
Todd, our painter, doubted his artistic ability
to cope successfully with a rampant grizzly,
but after much persuasion he consented to
attempt it | must say, however, that the
result fully justified his misEivings Beneath
the bear he painted the words, California
Republic and our flag was completed, just
as you may see it now in the hall of the Cali
fornia pioneers i'll San Francisco. 1t was first
raised on the afternoon of the same day,
Sunday, June Il, 1876, and it continued To
float over SOnOma until the 18th of the fol
lowing July, on which day We received the
to us glad news that the United States had
declared war against Mexico and Commodore
Sloat had seized California ill the name of
our beloved country, whereupon We hauled
down our improvised banner and replaced it
with the stars and stripes "-Chicago Trib
une.
MRS. FRANCES HODGSON BURNETT.